Unseen
by Siera-Knightwalker
Summary: I was an ordinary witch in Hogwarts. Until I was pranked. Pranked by the infamous self-entitled Marauders. And more recently, Sirius Black. There was no way he was getting away with insulting me. Oh yes. I would make him pay.
1. Chapter 1

Summary- I was an ordinary witch in Hogwarts. Until I was pranked. Pranked by the infamous self-entitled Marauders. And more recently, Sirius Black. There was no way he was getting away with insulting me. Oh yes. I would make him pay.

Disclaimer- Of course I don't own Harry Potter. Did you think I did? I'm so flattered.

It had started off an amazing morning in the Gryffindor tower. I had woken up on time to have a bath before my dorm mates, specifically Lily Evans. She was the smartest witch in our generation. I sincerely believed that and we had been tentative friends for four years. We didn't have much in common except that I liked to read too. I wasn't as good as her in charms or potions, but I was the best in runes. And not just Ancient Runes on tombs or anything, but Battle Runes. No one in the history of the wizarding world has ever made use of Runes in battle, but I will. That has been my goal since I had heard of runes, since my second year by which I had read almost all the books in the Hogwarts library except the Restricted Section.

I'm getting off topic. Let's start with my name. My name is Castella Violet Bones, witch and younger sister of Amelia Bones, who had already graduated from Hogwarts not too long ago. I had lead a normal Hogwarts life up until that day. That day I woke up, had a wonderful bath and had then proceeded to fall asleep again, which was a regular occurrence so no one got too worried about it. When Lily left the room, she always woke me up as she always did. I dressed up properly, put my wand in my robe and went to eat. It was only as I was entering that I saw Sirius Black glancing at the door and grinning his wicked grin that meant a prank was about to be pulled. I narrowed my eyes and slowed down near the door. My eyes wandered around the frame of the huge door, seeing nothing- not that that meant anything- I walked through the door.

There was a loud sound of the dung bomb bursting right where I had stepped. My eye twitched. Dung bomb? Those boys were obsessed with those things. I blinked a few times, making sure my eyes didn't water from the disgusting smell, I heard Sirius Black snorting before the Marauders started laughing and soon half the hall was laughing. I raised my eyebrow and looked down. My robes were splaterred with different colours. I raised my hand to my face and soon enough I could feel paint on my face. I silently made my way to the Marauder's table and took out my wand. I could see people in the corner of my eyes twitching with anticipation.

 _Agumenti_

I wordlessly summoned water and drenched Black and Potter. And before they could do more than splutter, I conjured a box of sparkles and emptied it over them. The drying charm would just make the sparkles stick to their skin, so they would have to wash themselves. I gave them a sadistic smile and sweetly spoke in the almost silent hall, "Have a good day, _boys_." I gracefully walked out of the hall. Of course, a slight cough had to interrupt my dramatic exit. I turned around and silently _looked_ at Professor McGonagall. She gave a slight smile in return.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor."

When she said nothing else, I continued my less-dramatic exit. Professor McGonagall didn't give which reason she was taking the points. So either she was supporting either one of the two parties or being neutral and cutting ten for each. I huffed. Either way, I would have to go without food till Lunch. Assholes.


	2. Chapter 2

The next few days people kept away from me. It wasn't from the risk of pissing me off. But mostly so they were out of the immediate area of affect when the Marauders thought to retaliate. People gave me a wide berth. And when I said 'wide', I mean wide.

My eye twitched as another group of girls leaned away from me as I passed by even though I was 3 meters away from them. If this kept going the way it was, I would be forced to hurt a few people. This was way too annoying.

"Cassie!" Alice waved at me, almost violently. Lily shifted away just in time for Alice's hand to miss her book.

"Quiet please!" The weird librarian popped up from somewhere and Alice gave a guilty laugh.

"Sorry am'am!" Marlene smacked Alice's head.

"You're trying way too hard to get us kicked out of the library. Some of us actually have to study!"

"As if you study." Alice childishly stuck her tongue out at her. Lily's hand shot out and caught her tongue between her fingers.

"Ah-ah. What have I said about this?" Alice gave a weird sigh with her mouth open.

"Cholley. Ah am cholley!" Lily let go immediately.

"God, that was disgusting." She wiped her hand in a handkerchief she conjured.

I sat down beside her and laughed.

"Who told you to? We've known for ages that we can't cure Alice."

"Hey! You're speaking like I have some mental disease!" Alice protested, pouting in an over exaggerated manner.

"Don't you?" I shot back. She gave a 'hm' of contemplation.

"You know, I don't actually know. For all I know, I might." We sweat dropped.

"You know we didn't mean that seriously, right?" Marlene said hesitantly.

"Of course I do!" She gave a nervous chuckle. None of us believed her.

"Okay, people. Study. We have exams coming up soon, and next year we have our OWL exams." Marlene gave a sigh of defeat borne from years of argument with the stubborn redhead, and took out the thinnest book from the pile beside her. Lily placed a thick book in front of me. I raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I know you've completed your homework, so we borrowed an advanced Ancient Rune's book from Professor Babbling. She contemplated taking in you in as an apprentice but said your career choice was geared towards battle and traps and not curse breaking and wards." Lily gave her a contemplating look. "She wouldn't tell us what you were studying, just said that you were brilliant though she couldn't help you because you were doing something entirely new." Marlene and Alice were looking at me curiously too.

"Tell us, Cassie. We're your friends. What is it?" Marlene prodded. I sighed. I had hoped that I could hide it a bit more with just saying 'Ancient Runes' but Professor seemed to have given the game away. I took out my wand and traced a symbol in the air. The symbol lit and glowed before a weak ward was erected. It would break if any magic was used too close by. I ha to constantly supplied it magic so that even if it broke, it would erect it again without a backlash.

They gaped at the glowing symbol in astonishment.

"What." Alice deadpanned. Lily face palmed.

"How do you know a sixth year ward?" Marlene asked slowly as if I was a child who had problem understanding what she said.

"Professor Babbling gave me extra books to read after class and I read all the Ancient Runes books in the library. I still have lots of practice left. But," I smiled giddily, "I can do this. I want to do this. My spells might not be as powerful as James and Sirius' and my aim might not be as perfect as Remus or yours, Lily, but I can do this. I can defend. I can trap. I can battle with this."

"Battle?!" Marlene and Lily burst up. The ward shattered and I put more magic to contain it and redo it. I redrew the symbol over the dimming one.

"Yes. Battle. There will be a war. Don't you hear the reports? My mother is worried something big is going to happen. My Defense against Dark Arts is good. But it isn't great. It won't keep me alive if I want to fight."

"But Runes will? How? You can ward a house. You can't make them in the middle of battle, with curses thrown about! You could die." I smiled at the end of Lily's outburst.

"Exactly! Ancient Runes that we are taught is rudimentary wards. It won't hold up against anything big or powerful. What I'm planning? Its more." I grinned. "You have no idea. I told professor Babbling about it and she encouraged me to pursue it, because even if I failed, I would be a brilliant cursebreaker at least."

"But that's not what you're going to do. You'll never settle for the second best." It was surprisingly Alice who got me. I gave her a brilliant smile.

"Yes. I'm taking old runes with new ones. Theorizing them together into something different. Something fast to make. Something impossible to defeat. Hard to trick. And you sure as fuck won't get through unless I'm dead." Lily was gaping at the passion that laced my voice, and was thankfully, too stuck on what I said to notice my cursing. I felt my cheeks flushing with my passion. I would do it. It would be hard. But I could already do what sixth years were supposed to do. I could use a few years in Hogwarts and become proficient at this. Perhaps even get Dumbledore's help. His power would be useful to attempt to break my creations. But that would be far in the future. Not yet, not just yet.

Alice was suddenly hugging me tightly.

"Okay." She released me. Even with the worry clouding her face, I could see how proud she felt. "Okay. But you're gonna ask me for help when you can. And stop cursing like a muggle." I scratched my cheek, embarrassed.

"I went to a muggle library this summer to read about their theories." I smirked. "They were very helpful. Next summer I'll get more advanced things and use the gravitational force or maybe even the energy of the Earth itself to power my Runes."

"Earth itself?" Lily pushed Alice away from me and looked at me with surprise.

"Later. But don't tell this to anyone, okay?" I blushed. "I want to actually succeed before anyone even hears about this. Plus, I want it to be a secret weapon." I glared at Marlene, who was the most gossipy of us four. She gave a nervous chuckle before reluctantly nodding.

"I won't say it to anyone. Promise." Alice and Lily nodded. I smiled.

"Thanks guys. You're the best." I pulled all of them in a hug. They were the best. I felt the relief at saying it to someone. Now I only had to make sure that I succeeded.


	3. Chapter 3

'Radio Free Death' and Guest reviewer: Thanks so much for the help! I appreciate it.

Minzibaloo11: While I love Sirius too, this story started out with my wish for a girl who can use tactics and defense. I just wanted the prank war because I really, really wanted to show who's the boss. The Marauders have entirely too much freedom and almost always go unpunished by the students. A lot. It's like the students don't have any balls. So this is what I'm here for!

If anyone has any ideas for pranks, I'd love to hear them!

Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation? You got it.

I walked calmly back to the Common Room after runni- I mean, leaving the library. I was _not_ running away. I was _not_ embarrassed. Oh, who was I kidding? I collapsed on the sofa of the Common Room. Thankfully, it was mostly empty.

What was I thinking? Blurting out my lifelong dream to do the impossible?! And with only a weak ward. What kind of idiotic way to go about it. And fighting? Okay, I was above average but I barely had any chance to gain any experience. My situational awareness sucked, and my aim needed work. There was also the minor issue about my sister, Amelia being much better than me, at it. There was also no doubt that Amelia would enter the Ministry's Law Enforcement Division though, where my family had worked for generations. It was _expected_ from the heir to the House of Bones.

More infuriatingly, Amelia liked the job. She wanted to be there. She wanted to be the Head of the Division. It wasn't all that hard for her, anyway. Our grandfather had been the Head. Our father had been very close too. The Minister would be obliged to give the position to her the second she asked for it. Not that she would.

I sighed. Maybe father's accident wasn't a very good way to retire but it made me very leery of the Ministry jobs. They hadn't found the person who was responsible either. What kind of Ministry wouldn't take responsibility for their employee's health? The Ministry was being corrupted, and Amelia wanted to solve it from the inside.

"Stupid bullshitting sisters with Merlin's balls."

"Did you say something?" My head jerked up. Behind a big book, was Remus Lupin in worn out casual clothes. I started at him for a moment before looking away.

"No. Nothing important." I gave him a friendly smile. Remus was probably one of the most liked person among the Marauders. James was too arrogant, Sirius was too...him, and Peter was too much of a pushover. Remus was nice. He was kind and helpful. He was also the mastermind behind most of their ingenious pranks. Though I could respect that. I knew he was smart. He and Lily fought for the first place in the year. Even with Ravenclaws, as brilliant as they were, they couldn't hold a candle to the Lily's sharpness and Remus' plain genius mind. Though he liked to put himself down way too much. He would be amazing to work with for research. I pouted mentally. If only he wasn't with the Marauders…

"I don't suppose there is a chance you could…not be friends with the Marauders? We could have so much fun!" I visibly pouted at him.

"No!" There was a certain harshness and panic that I had never heard of from Remus. I was instantly alert. I looked at him carefully. Noted the wide eyed panic and fear, and a certain coldness. Towards me. I lifted my hands up and tried to calm him down.

"Chill. I wasn't serious. I was joking."

"Then please don't repeat things like that again. Even if it's for 'fun'. I won't accept it." There was still a slight coldness but the panic and fear had abated. I hadn't realized there was something serious issue there. It wasn't a childhood drama or 'my only friends leaving me' pity issue. No, it was something deeper.

I blushed when it registered what he said.

"That wasn't what I meant! I meant, research. I know how close you four are! I don't actually want you guys to stop being friends. Merlin knows I'll be ripped to pieces by James and Sirius if they even thought I suggested something like this to you. I just meant that you're so smart and all, you and Lily could help me with something a great deal. But then I remembered that you four are always stuck to the hip. Not to mention James' obsession with Lily…" I was stopped from further babbling when Remus started laughing. I chuckled and scratched my head, apologetically.

"If I was Sirius, I would have taken that as flirting." Remus didn't say anything else about it. So I didn't either.

"Good thing, you're not Sirius."

"Actually, he's very serious." I didn't even have to turn my head to acknowledge Alice. She jumped on the couch beside me and cuddled up.

"I didn't even know you knew him at all." I blinked at Remus and Alice in surprise.

"We don't," Remus said, equally surprised.

"Excuse me. But do you even know who I am?" Marlene stated arrogantly before taking a seat. Lily relaxed closer to the fireplace and greeted Remus quietly. Remus greeted her back just as familiarly.

"Of course. The resident gossip queen. How could I forget, my lady? Thy grace me with thy unnatural and gossipy nature every-bloody-day." Marlene just raised an eyebrow and smirked at me.

"You have no idea what she said, do you?" Alice 'whispered'. Marlene blushed, very aware that all of us had heard her.

"Oh, shut up." We snickered.

"You read muggle books?" Remus' surprised face was totally worth reading books with an ancient form of English.

"Hell yes! Those are some good shit." I nodded my head, satisfactorily. Remus just seems slightly amused but still surprised at the response. "What? Never seen a pureblood curse like a muggle before?"

"I think it's safe to say he has." Lily interrupted.

"Sirius." I nodded knowingly. When Sirius was in a bad mood, he made sure everyone in the castle knew it, with bad mixture of wizard and muggle curses.

"Not just him. You should hear James curse. He's worse than Sirius." I raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "Really. Siruis isn't really that familiar with bad language because of the way he was brought up." Remus stopped and briefly looked alarmed. Perhaps it wasn't something he intended to say?

"Purebloods." I nodded knowingly again. Lily hit me on the head with a book.

"You're a pureblood too."

"Or am i?" I wagged my eyebrows. Lily stifled a laugh.

"That's not working." I continued wagging my eyebrows ridiculously. Lily burst out laughing.

"See? It's working. It's working." Lily hit me again.

"Bloody fucking hell!" Lily just continued laughing.

"I'm surprised Lily stopped telling you to correct your language." I looked at Remus with surprise.

"I'm surprised you stopped telling Sirius to correct his language." Remus laughed.

"Touché."

And that was the scene James and Sirius stumbled upon.


	4. Chapter 4

I was trying to have a regular-ish update date. Oh man. That was a total flop. Hopefully better luck next time, eh?

Fuck disclaimers!

Need I mention a warning for language seeing as I missed the last chapter's? Whoops?

So here I was, lazing away on a Sunday when Alice dropped down beside me on my bed. I traced a flaming pattern in the air when I saw her bury her face into my shoulder.

"What happened?" I wasn't concerned. Alice wasn't a kind of person who would keep something important hidden.

"No'thin." I smirked and traced a rune in the air.

" _Who's that boy?! Ah-_ "A loud music suddenly started playing. Alice took my pillow and swung it towards my arm. I jerked away before falling off the bed in a tumble. Alice pointed at me and started laughing. I scowled at her. I flicked my want at her and the pillow jerked up. Alice was pulled along with it before she had the common sense to let go. She fell to the edge of the bed, cartwheeling her hands before falling off as well. This time I was the one laughing as Alice blushed in embarrassment.

"Okay, okay. I got it, you're awesome." I smirked.

"Believe it." Alice shivered eerily.

"Don't say that again. Ever." I cocked my head in confusion before shrugging. Alice had always been sort of weird.

"Okay." I jumped on the bed and a moment later Alice crawled in. She sighed looking at my slightly glum expression.

"You know, unlike what you believe, you're amazing at Defence against the Dark Arts. You have practically mastered wordless magic. Its amazing. The only reason James or anyone really can beat you is because your draw is still a bit slow but after? You're probably better than them. It might take some time because James is ridiculously good at making shields but give it time? You can beat him. Any day."

"Riiiiight. Sure. Whatever you say. But it doesn't matter. If I'm dead before I can draw my wand, then what's the point? Dark wizards aren't easy to deal with. I know what even a captured wizard can do with a bit of motivation." I lowered my head and my hair covered my eyes. "That's why, I'm going to defend." I looked up and smiled at her gently. "I want to save people. I want people to fight as hard as they can as much as possible to kill any person who does things like that. I don't mind staying out of the action but I would like to save a few people at least."

"That's just like you." Alice smiled at me. "You want to invent a whole new branch of Ancient Runes to protect people." She gave me a fond look. "You're kinda silly that way."

"Hey! Fighting for people's lives is not silly!"

"No. But involving yourself into a War for other people is."

"Jeesh. You guys keep denying the presence of the oncoming war so much that you make me worried." Alice gave me a look that said she knew I was avoiding the topic.

"You know, all I came here to do was tell you that Frank invited me to go to Hogsmeade next weekend, and we ended up with talks of war…" She sighed. "Why doesn't any conversation with you go as planned?"

I fell back on the bed and smiled, thinking, _about time_. "I don't mind."

"Me neither. I always get to know new things about you." Alice snuggled up to me. "Now, move over. I've played nice long enough. I deserve a nice relaxing day with my friend."

I sweat dropped. Did she forget about Marlene and Lily?


	5. Chapter 5

A month later, I was cursing out the Marauders in my head. Black was going overboard while Potter seemed to be a tiny bit more hesitant than him. A _teeny-tiny_ bit. There wasn't an elaborate prank. Just a few well placed tripping jinx, a sneezing jinx, and a few tickling jinx made me a very pissed off target of the two. Remus was sheepish and apologized on their behalf because apparently they were mad at me for telling Remus not to be friends with them. While I was apologetic for saying that, they seemed to not get the idea of 'misunderstanding'.

It was very _very_ annoying. I got revenge but this was ridiculous. At least my magical awareness was better. I meticulously etched defensive runes into my trunks and sheets and…well, Almost everything I owned. My school uniform was probably a better shield that anything an Auror could have done. When Sirius tried to transfigure my robes into a squirrel, my runes activated and sent the spell right back at him along with an Expelliamus spell. They dodged but the Expelliamus got to Sirius and sent his wand flying. Of course, it was a one time thing, but it was very satisfying. Especially the shocked look on Sirius' face along with a smug look on Severus'.

While Severus and I weren't friends, we maintained an amiable relationship. He sometimes helped me with potions and no one is Slytherin minded all that much because the Bones family was always neutral and Ministry affiliated and Ministry was under the thumb of the purebloods. They probably thought being friends with a pureblood neutral to get her on their side was very Slytherin. It was way too obvious to ever be sly.

But I could say that Severus actually enjoyed my company. That was probably the thing that actually made it work. His snarky humor mixed with advice and insults while he helped me was fun. He had taken Ancient Runes too. Probably because I had told him enough about it that he could write a book on it, or three. Though vastly different, we mixed up Runes with potions enough to interest the teachers. They warned us about it being dangerous, but honestly? It didn't matter. There was a war going on. But aside from that, we were teenagers. We always did dangerous things.

Even with the pranks going on, that were increasingly becoming more Remus-like but fun, Severus and I would spend Ancient Runes and Potions talking. The teachers didn't mind as much as the student as who tried to follow our conversation and got really confused. In between we dragged Lily in too. At first the conversation was a little uncomfortable because Lily and Severus had been friends but had stopped talking but when James enthusiastically pranked us and Lily got caught in a spray paint by accident….well, the ice was broken between us among vengeful planning and screams of mercy.

By the end of two months, all of my friends had school uniform that was better protected than armor and Remus had given up thinking up ingenious pranks to actually figure out a way to get through my Runes, Severus' potions and Lily's charms. Our prank was escalading to a point where large pranks were becoming an almost daily occurrence and no one gave a shit about bystanders, curfew or a few empty rooms which were regularly blown up my spell and potion experiments. Slughorn was delighted when Severus accidentally created a potion that would give the drinker sight of unicorn trails.

 _(Don't ask. Seriously. Don't even mention it.)_

Or when I created the ruinic equivalent of an enchantment that created a illusion of a clone in an area for a brief period of time.

 _(Nightmares. I will have nightmares.)_

Or when James became a master of human transfiguration and turned Severus into a pig for an hour, and only stayed that way for that long because Severus ran away from Mrs. Norris and McGonnagal couldn't find him.

 _(No words. I have no words.)_

Or when Lily linked tracking charm with a confundus and made James stay on the sixth floor for ten hours before people actually got worried enough to look for him. James stayed in the infirmary for the next day which made for vicious pranks for the whole day that made us look like pandas and made us late for Transfiguration by half an hour while we smelled of alcohol. Professor just sighed and gave us detention.

James got memory loss and started flirting with Lily to get her out of the other side of the prank war.

(No, he didn't actually _get_ memory loss. He pretended to, so he could get Lily's sympathy and guilt. I asked Madame Pomphrey.)

Marauders got their hands on muggle prank items and Lily got all the confiscated items. Slytherin provided us with silent support and items to curse them with. A few of them sent us illegal cursed items anonymously, some disguised as prank items and one even a book on curses that look similar to prank spells. For example, a spell that made a person puke until they started puking internal organs and stomach dermis or the one that would give a small cut that was connected to a box which kept taking blood from the small cut until they died of blood loss. We, of course, burned all these books and items after learning a few interesting spells. Even Severus had no interest in keeping a book like that with us for more than necessary.

It was an interesting but very annoying month. It was probably the only time barely any Slytherins got caught in pranks unless in class. Gryffindors really hated us this time. I smirked. There were way too many bets going on and everyone in Gryffindor had become very proficient in cleaning charms.

"What are you smirking about now, Cassie?" Lily rolled her eyes at me but returned my smirk.

"I was thinking about dividing them and separately attacking them individually. Divide and conquer, you know?"

"Leave that for next year. Black and Potter would never let the term finish without a grand finale at the Feast," Sev sneered. Lily and I shared a secretive smile. Severus had enjoyed the last few months before the end of term as much as any of us. Giving the Marauders a run for their money in their own terms? It felt amazing. But the Marauders were also known for their borderline cruelty for Slytherins. So I wasn't sure if having Sev around them was a good idea. But then again, they wouldn't try anything drastic with Lily around Sev, right?

With the way they kept watching me though, I felt that it was me they would be after this time, and I would have to be ready for a retaliating prank as well. Maybe a hallucinogen?

"You're right, but we should fit in something too." Then I felt a grin climb up my face. "Something a little humiliating and harmless. We wouldn't want to ruin their homecoming now would we?"

They looked at each other and Lily's lips twitched up.

"Okay, what do you have?" I just grinned wider.

"A little surprise for all the girls in the school…"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: They are fifteen. Okay? I don't give a shit when their actual birthdays are supposed to be. Those two, at least, are fifteen.**

* * *

The next morning, I woke up bleary eyed and anticipating. It'll be humiliating for the brat of a Black. Honestly, I had been kind of conflicted about Sirius. He was the fun and cheerful guy in every victory party but there was a dark madness inside him as well. My father had told me about the infamous Black madness, and watching them together just made me wish I never had.

It was easy to imagine Sirius, mad and enraged. It was hard to think up a reason for that that wasn't something serious though. The fact that the madness was obvious to me, made me believe that the summer wouldn't be an easy one for him.

There might not be all out fighting in the streets, there might not be the lingering shadow of death hanging around the school but there was missing people, mutilated bodies found in random places. Laws being broken, left and right. Amelia had graduated last year and I worried about her. She wasn't going to be bought off and the war was quickly becoming lethal to people like that.

Hogwarts wouldn't be there to protect people forever, and that just gave me another reason to learn Ancient Runes. I learned bits of Celtic and Roman to keep progressing. It was hard work to stay up every night and study, understand, differentiate, and mix and match all the Runes and symbols. I needed something that gave me mobility. Constant casting was out of the way. Chanting was too unreliable.

I was thinking that my initial idea was the one that was one after all, when Lily woke me up and smiled wickedly. My dark mood left as soon as it had appeared.

"Let's see the verdict, shall we?"

"We shall." And so, with matching grins we made our way to the Hall. We were earlier than we usually were and no teacher was supposed to be there yet. Most of the students wouldn't be there either but I had made…special arrangements for the girls.

Sure enough, when we reached Great Hall, it was almost half filled with giggling girls staring behind the teachers table. On the window lay Sirius Black stuck sleeping with a thumb in his mouth, and naked as the day he was born.

As soon as the girls either got sense in their heads they would get a professor or prefect. But I had intentionally chosen the girls to be shallow or too gossipy and with not enough sense. People who would get killed the second a fight erupted, or in other words, cannon fodder.

But that wasn't exactly the time to think such things. I was sure someone would have reported as soon as they saw him, but looks like I really was a good judge of character. I shared a look with Lily and barely a moment later, the Marauders entered the Great Hall with worried expressions. The second they caught sight of Sirius, they were torn between laughing and taking him down. It wasn't much of a choice when the Hufflepuff girl Sirius had been dating entered and taking a disgusted look at his dick size left with an annoyed huff.

A few more girls giggled. A satisfied smirk crawled its way on my face when Remus looked at the girls then at me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged. Sirius would crawl his way into their good graces soon enough anyway. With this prank, I had to shrink his dick, or it wouldn't have been funny at all. Just a way for him to show off.

Regretfully, Sirius did have quite the dick but that didn't mean people had to know that. Either way, he would have to wait a humiliating year before he could get back and make every girl very familiar with the real size of his cock.

James pulled Sirius down with a quick enervate and Remus conjured some clothes. James whispered with Sirius and Remus burst out laughing. Sirius shot me a dark glare then hesitated, looking away. I cocked my head before realizing I was faintly smiling at their interaction. A slight blush came over my cheeks and I huffed before turning back to my food.

"Oh well. Looks like the fun's ov-" I looked at Lily who was looking at the three friends with a slight blush as well.

"Lily?" Her eyes shot back to me and on noticing me observing her, she blushed deeper. I sighed, a small smirk curling on my lips.

"Who is it? Is it Remus- smart and studious," I slid closer to her, practically whispering into her ear with a sly tone, turning to look at the three with her, "Sirius- fun and wild, or maybe James- all hot and charming, just for you." I winked at them teasingly, with a sly smirk. Lily scoffed, her blush being forced down.

"None of them. You're being ridiculous, and since when did you find James hot?" I grinned at her, when she winced, realizing she had given the game away.

"Lily-bear." I, very clearly, did not wince at her elbowing me at James' nickname for her. "Welcome to the wonders of puberty." She rolled her eyes, snatching a piece of toast from my plate.

"Honey, you're a bit late if you think puberty just started." Lily bit into the toast. I was about to respond when Lily choked on her toast, wide eyed at something behind me. I whirled back just in time to see Sirius stand in front of me. With his dick in front of my face. His more than averagely-sized dick.

I made a small noise at the back of my throat, hurriedly suppressing my blush at the sight. It's not like I had been observing his body at midnight, while stripping him, or in the morning, when he hung there.

I looked at Sirius with what I hoped was a cocky look and a smirk.

"How's it hanging?" Sirius smirked back and I could literally _feel_ all the girls in the hall faint at the sight of a naked, hot and smirking Sirius Black. I had to suppress a sigh. Perhaps I should have included sensible people too.

"Well, you would know, wouldn't you? I didn't think our late night rendezvous would turn out this way." My eye twitched. Seriously? That's where he was going?

"I thought I'd put you higher. See if that would teach you how to top." Remus choked on his spit. Sirius' smirk widened. At least he can take a joke.

"Not like it could ever help you, of course." She could literally imagine Marlene screaming 'burn'. She was always on their side, no matter how hot the other guy was.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sirius' eyes darkened and he leaned closer to me, a hand on the table, caging me in. I narrowed my eyes minutely. My voice turned low and seductive. My hand lightly touching his chest. I leaned in closer.

"Like you could." Her eyebrow raised in challenge.

Someone coughed.

They looked simultaneously at the source with annoyed expression, which changed to surprised and embarrassed ones. McGonnagal stood at the doors of the Great Hall with Peter Pettigrew behind her.

"Detention with me after holidays, Mr. Black and Ms. Bones, and I would advise you to wear some clothes, Mr. Black!" Sirius gave a nervous chuckle.

"Come on, Minny! It's not like we were doing anything!" Sirius said, backing away hurriedly putting on jeans and top to the utter disappointment of the girls. McGonnagal gave him a disapproving look. I sat down as unnoticeably as I could.

"Ms. Bones, I did not expect this sort of behavior from you." She turned her disapproving face to me. That sort of statement always annoyed me a little. I put on my 'public face' and smiled charmingly.

"Sorry Professor. I'll try not to do it again." A huge fat lie, but McGonnagal knew us pretty well. She gave me a slightly concerned look and I just kept smiling. She sighed.

"Very well then." I focused on the food with a slight frown. Bantering with Sirius had distracted me from my dark thoughts, but they still came back. I shoved as much food in my mouth as I could, before leaving the hall without Lily.

I didn't want to talk or hang out with my friends today. Lily had dealt with me on moods like that and those didn't always end too well. We both became stubborn and she didn't stop talking half the time when I just wanted quiet.

I ignored Lily's concerned glance, brushing away from Alice when she came in. I wasn't even out of earshot when Alice sighed.

"One of those moods again, huh?"

"Not that bad today, just something Prof-"

I ran the second I was out of sight. I ran up the stairs and kept running before reaching the sixth floor and finding an empty room with a decent view.

It was the last day of the school year, and I didn't want to leave Hogwarts. It was a safe haven. So cut off from the outside world. The world where people I knew would be dying soon. Would the students make it?

Severus would be heavily targeted by both sides. He would need to stop associating with Lily if he wanted to survive the summer. He would, at least, need to pretend to think of joining the opposing side. It really was unfortunate that he was in Slytherin. He would have done quite well in Ravenclaw, and he wouldn't be as targeted. He was already learning Occulumency, thanks to me. He would need to get his acting skills up to par soon.

The other Slytherins would practice their dueling skills and so would we. But the people in disadvantage would be Marlene, a half blood; and Lily, a muggleborn. Sirius would have been too, as a 'light' Black, but I wasn't exactly close enough to help him. Remus would be too, but hopefully James would help both of his friends. I was fond of all three.

I hadn't talked to Peter and James as much, but I knew more than enough about James. Peter, however, was another matter. He was too shy and reluctant to talk to anyone. He kept following James and Sirius and had already started disliking me, even though both of our groups had a friendly rivalry going on.

Lily, Marlene and Alice would meet up at my house then Marlene and Alice would work together while Lily and I did the same. Generally, Alice would be with me, but their other friends needed help. I had opted Lily because Marlene could get on my nerves sometimes. We would be able to use wands inside the warded houses, and since my family would be pretty busy, we could train freely.

The summer would be intensive, and I still had to start making stable wards without ward stones-

Ward stones! I startled at the thought. I had forgotten about them.

Ward stones in Hogwarts took the latent magic in the air due to the students to fuel the wards. I could do the same! With stable ones, I could use the Earth.

So I would need to learn more about element manipulation. I could even use that for duels as well. Area of Effect spells would an awesome specialization for me.

"You idiot!" I almost tumbled off my chair when Alice screamed at my ear with a wand in her hand. I gasped, a hand on my galloping chest. I was going to get a heart attack one of these days because of my friends.

"Alice! You scared me." I looked up at her and she sighed, exasperation.

"We almost recruited the Marauders to find you. If you're too late, you're going to miss the train, you idiot!" I laughed sheepishly, noticing the way Alice glanced over my body, looking for any injuries in case I was practicing again.

"It's fine, Alice. I didn't do anything yet." She huffed, half annoyed and half-relieved.

"It's your idea to practice during Summer. The least you could do is make sure you reach home for it!" With that Alice's quota for mothering was fulfilled and I had to grin when she took my hand with sparkling eyes.

"Now tell me what this is I hear about you and Sirius almost making out in the Hall, naked?"

I spluttered, while Alice laughed.

"Perfect revenge!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Last chapter was bigger than I expected, but I couldn't really stop midway. Anyway, it's going to have loads of friendship and chaos in the story! Dunno if I warned you guys before.**

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The first time I felt the Cruciatus was at the age of fifteen, while doing early shopping for school supplies. Lily had left the other day to spend more time with her family, and I had time to enjoy with my sister before she got promoted again. It would be a hard and frustrating job and even with all my paranoia, I hadn't realized what 'war' truly meant.

That day had been like any other day. It was bright and sunny, and while people were wary, everyone felt they were safe enough. After all, who would attack Diagon Alley in broad daylight? There were children, parents, muggles (though much less than they generally were), and everyone hung out, laughing and chatting with shopkeepers and neighbors.

Then all of a sudden, while I was in the middle of telling Amelia a joke and she was stifling a smile, a chill travelled down my spine. Amelia immediately noticed, a hand on her wand, and her eyes scanned for threats around us.

"What is it?" I was paranoid, right? It was Diagon Alley. Nothing bad would happen here, right? But something bad was going to happen.

"W-We need to leave." My eyes widened when I spotted a few hooded figures coming out of Knockturn Alley, some apparating to the other side of Diagon Alley. My hand reached for my wand and I glanced at Amelia, who had also noticed them closing in the shoppers.

"I need to call the Aurors discretely." I nodded.

"Go. I'll try to get the muggles and children away." I walked casually towards one of the obvious muggle parents who were struggling with massive amount of luggage. I smiled at the man.

"Hello. I'm a Hogwarts student. I was wondering where your child was, and if you were assisted by a teacher?" The man gave a nervous laugh.

"Nathan just ran away into the sweet shop leaving me with all these. No teacher this time though." I frowned. The sweet shop would no doubt be occupied with the kids the most. I should try to put as many vulnerable people there and get help to protect it. A few average students or adults should be able to defend well enough. I needed to protect the building from explosion or something.

I shrunk his bags and slightly dragged the man to the sweet shop with a smile.

"The charms will automatically cancel out in a few hours, so be careful with them okay? Why don't you get in the shop as well? He must be waiting for you." My smile stiffened when the hooded figures were spotted. The man looked at them with sharp eyes, and then at me.

"Of course, but shouldn't you accompany us as well?" I swallowed, my eyes darting to the kids still around them.

"No. I'm sorry. If you could, please take care of the kids." The man nodded sharply, his gaze sharp and sure, but also kind. Ex-military.

"Be safe." I had to stifle a hysterical giggle. There was going to be an attack in Diagon Alley. Safe was going to be a dream soon.

An explosion hit in the middle of the crowded street and people, limbs and blood was flying. I tried my best not to freeze more than required before rushing more kids into the shop, my wand already out and writing out runes to protect against direct attacks on the building. There were already a few wards, so I just had to add a bit more. A ward very similar to Hogwarts, taking ambient magic to fuel defense.

Anything else would take too much time.

I shot a well aimed tripping jinx, barely getting one of the hooded figures to avoid the cutting curse to the throat of an unconscious lady. Another saw me, aiming a spell with a red light.

 _Stupify?_ I thought, surprised.

Before I tripped, missing getting hit by it. It harmlessly slid from the newest ward addition. I threw a bloody and hopefully unconscious teenager, around my age near the gate and someone leaned out to take them in. There was loud screaming, and blood.

Oh god, so much blood. Then, I was puking behind the building. Something hit me and I bit through my lip to avoid the scream. I shouldn't attract more attention. One of them came in front of her, lazily twirling his ward.

"Bones, huh? Your father got my brother killed." He aimed the wand at me. My dress was definitely torn and I was probably hit by a weak cutting curse on my side. I was bleeding. I spit at his robe.

The Aurors better be there soon. The monster snarled.

"Crucio!"

I wasn't ashamed to admit I almost passed out in the first three seconds under the curse. I had no idea if I was screaming or not, but it felt like he was ripping open wounds all across my body again and again. The suddenness was probably the most jarring thing. It hit like a train, and didn't really leave.

When it ended, I had no idea but I kept falling in and out of consciousness. It didn't take too long to come back to consciousness, but when I did, I was still in the middle of the wreck of a Diagon Alley. The screams had tapered off and there were no hooded figures. I tried to sit up, falling down when my hands didn't support me. There were a few figures around, a few Aurors had started to arrive and I still couldn't sit up.

I collapsed into a sitting position with a groan, with barely any idea what had happened. Without Aurors, did they just leave on their own? On the sky above, was a symbol of a skull. I shuddered, my already shaky hands and legs protested as I tried to stand up. I leaned against the wooded wall, half of my hair matted with vomit.

It didn't even matter. There were cries of grief now. It had been less than five minutes since Amelia left. It took five minutes to ruin all the false peace people felt. I stood on shaky legs. Those kids and that man. They had to be safe, right?

"Castella! Ella?" Amelia's voice sounded from halfway across the half abandoned, bloody Alley. I was glad my eyes wouldn't focus too well or I would have to puke again. There was blood _everywhere._

"Sis." I coughed. "Sis!" I stumbled towards her, stumbling over someone's body.

"Ella. You're okay. You're alive." She hugged me, holding me up when I collapsed, my legs unable to hold me up.

"S-Sweet s-sh-op." I said, voice wavering. Already my vision was going dark. I had never fainted before so it was a new experience for me. Though I barely cared with the ache in my jelly-like muscles, and the pain from the cut on my side.

"-ay. They're-" I passed out.


End file.
